In an official statement released this morning, H. Moser announced that they will not be presenting the unique Swiss Icons Watch at SIHH next week, nor will they be auctioning off the piece in support of the Fondation pour la Culture Horlogère Suisse after the fair.

That official statement arrived this morning and reads as follows:

"Dear H. Moser friends and others,

No one said #MakeSwissMadeGreatAgain would be easy...

You might have noticed that we have stopped our campaign promoting our Swiss Icons Watch.

While our objective was to pay tribute to the great founders of our beautiful industry and warn against certain practices of others, the message was unfortunately sometimes misunderstood.

As such, the Swiss Icons Watch will therefore no longer be presented and won't be sold to raise funds to support education and training of young Swiss Watchmakers.

But fear not, we still have a number of surprises to share with you next week at SIHH.

I am sure the posts here at Timezone didn't give them that insight. We may never know, but lawyers may have played an important part here. Moser is part of the laughing stock right now, how to take them seriously in the near future is a challenge to them.

Is there someone who plans to buy a Moser watch because of this action? Or are there people who started thinking twice about a planned Moser watch acquisition? I wonder about Mr. Meylan: will he still be Moser CEO by July 2018?

a lot of people probably never heard of Moser before.... If they get that much attention I'm sure they will attract people that will take a look at this brand for the first time
And I think we will agree they make nice watches
So yes, some of them might consider buying one

If I were in the market for buying one that 'ugly marketing watch' wouldn't change my mind

"Is there someone who plans to buy a Moser watch because of this action?"
For a sample of one: I'm starting to like Moser as a company because of it, and will consider buying one of their future models.

"I wonder about Mr. Meylan: will he still be Moser CEO by July 2018?"
Very likely, given that his family's investment firm owns the majority interest of Moser.

A controversial event indeed.

"The fact that the mechanism is quite unnecessary merely adds to its charm." - George Daniels

...poor taste, or somehow crossed a line. It's satire. Nothing to take seriously. Anyone here watch SNL or Monty Python? It was not mean spirited, it was a marketing foolery (think April 1st prank). The watch clearly does not represent the H. Moser brand. Besides, I've been around here long enough to know that if Jean-Claude Biver had been behind the campaign, there are many on the forum that would be clamoring for a production version... even if it was 48mm. In the end, it put a smile on my face, and I'd still consider an H. Moser if I had need for a dress watch. JUST MY OPINION.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

I get the shining light on lack of innovation in watch making but they dissed the core of my watch collection that I hold near and dear...I know its stupid but I am a little insulted they have deemed themselves the judge and jury.

Au contraire, more people in the watch community probably know about Moser now than before, so in that regard, awareness is what they gained. Being laughed at is perfect for business, bar a few stodgy old-school watch traditionalists nobody cares about anyway :)

...for its contributions to horology and watch design, or for its parody of other brands and the industry. Moser has its contributions for sure, but who will remember them after cheese-watch and this debacle took center stage.

The Moser Moser itself was 'reborn' 'reborn' 2005. In such a position, I'm not sure why they they would want to throw stones and then end the episode with a backhanded and biting retreat.

So it's unlikely I'll play in the new market. AndnI know you don't believe me. But the difference is, I do believe that the forces of conservatism despise this move and despise Moser for what it has done, and that some people are genuinely offended by association. Whereas the forces of conservatism cannot conceive that any form of thinking other than their own exists.

What does the fact - to the extent we agree it's even a fact - that Moser was prevented from doing this say to you?

I am not a clairvoyant, but in the luxury world the establishment rules. You may kick them, they might not like you for it. And the regular Moser watches were meant for the rich establishment... how to sell them to the non-establishment? They might buy a genuine, much cheaper Apple watch.

...especially in this golden age of escapement innovation, the fascinating competition between Bulgarian, SO, and Piaget for mastery of impossibly ultra thin movements, materials, etc.

I used to really like Moser. Actually had a crush on the iWatch knockoff. This Swiss Icons watch, the bald-faced watches, and the cheese watch were characatures and cheapened the brand for me. I certainly do not agree with the statement "...no such thing as bad publicity..."; Moser has dropped from my must-have list. There cheeky response seems petulant and does them no favors. Who is leading that company?

Moser: always trying to make a statement, but ultimately having nothing much to say.

The latest love that I may acquire is the titanium Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, that has lots of beauty, quality of the parts and technical prowess. I don't care for an expensive, useless and not too beautiful gimmick like a tourbillon.

Moser, for whatever reason, played a game and lost. I didn't like their game, their attitude, so I haven't lost a tear for them. I like watches, don't necessarily love brands, or feel loyal to them. The same goes for the watch industry: they may lose big, but if I have some nice watches, that's very egotistically OK by me.

I expect luxurious watch brands to be with us for quite some time, and to be quite successful. There may be a shakeout, or not, the next few years, here I expect Rolex to survive and Moser not, if one would want to put it in extreme terms. That is fine, it would be in line with my desired view of the world.